Thursday, July 15, 2010

And let's check out that tote board and see just how close we are the that magic number of unrecoverable disaster!!

Well, looky there -- as of 9 pm EST June 15, even the BP cameras show no oil or gases escaping.

Now, so long as this new pressure seal on top holds, and does not make the well bore explode some thousands of feet below the surface thus making an unhealable sieve of an endlessly leaking sea bed before they can successfully (and for a record-setting first) connect two relief wells down a couple of miles to seal off the endless Fountain of Filth ... so long as all those firsts and dozens more actually work, then maybe it will all stop for good.

At least, stop the leak, that is.

We still face massive years of millions of work hours (and billions of dollars) to clean and re-claim pretty much all the Southern coastline and many, many more miles of inland waterways.

And so very sad amid all of this -- Americans know much about the disaster, but so few know even the names of those 11 workers who lost their lives aboard the Deepwater Horizon for no reason other than a deep desire to make an oil well flow:

(yes, there is real life outside the binary coded creations the Internet offers ... who knew?)

And of course it has been a very long time for my old self since I first found and read the stories of A.A. Milne. And then, as now, I keep encountering some of the very thoughtful and downright Zen attitudes of all those creatures in the 100 Acre Wood.

Here are a few quotes from the Pooh stories worth remembering:

-- some conversations between Pooh and Piglet:

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast? said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully.

"It's the same thing," he said. -----

"Lots of people talk to animals," said Pooh."Not that many listen though.""That's the problem."-----

"If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”-----

"It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"-----

"Poetry and Hums aren't things which you get, they're things which get you. And all you can do is go where they can find you.”-----

--And some thoughts from Eeyore (don't discount him as a a pessimist):

"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily."So it is.""And freezing.""Is it?""Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately."

-----

"I'm not saying there won't be an Accident now, mind you. They're funny things, Accidents. You never have them till you're having them."